When the Grandmother Dies Poem by Fady Joudah

it'll be kept secret
from her four daughters

who'll be flying in
from three different countries

after years of absence
reunion ends

When the grandmother dies

it'll ruin summertime
for the grandkids who

in their mothers' grief will eat
okra each day

fresh & leftover
till it tastes like ash

When the grandmother dies

the groundskeeper will beg for cash
he comforts her he'll say

& the sisters
will reply

Were it not for you
the dead would have died